Unity Revamped PPA Is Back For Ubuntu 12.04 (Unity Launcher Dodge, Minimize On Click Features)

The Unity Revamped PPA is back for Ubuntu 12.04 LTS. This is a PPA that comes with a custom Unity build that brings back the old "Dodge windows" and "Dodge active window" Launcher hide behaviour as well as a feature that many have requested: minimize / restore windows by clicking on their icon in the Unity Launcher.

Unfortunately, there are some issues with the patches for the latest Unity available in Ubuntu 12.10 (6.x) , but at least the PPA now works again with Ubuntu 12.04 (Unity 5.18, available in the official Ubuntu 12.04 Updates repository).

One of the extra features that used to be in the Unity package available in the Unity Revamped PPA isn't available with this update unfortunately, or at least I couldn't find it in my test: the option to disable global menu autohide in CCSM. But the window dodge and minimize on Unity icon click features work great.

Below you can watch a video I've recorded a while back, demoing Unity with the dodge windows and minimize / restore on click features in Ubuntu 12.04:

(direct video link)

Get "Dodge windows", "Dodge active window" and minimize on click for Unity in Ubuntu 12.04

To add the Unity Revamped PPA and upgrade Unity to the custom build available in this PPA (for Ubuntu 12.04 only!), use the following commands:

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:ikarosdev/unity-revamped
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

Then, log out and log back in.

Now try to minimize an open window by clicking its icon on the Unity launcher - this should now work.

To get the "Dodge windows" or "Dodge active window" Unity launcher behaviour, install CompizConfig Settings Manager:

sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

Then, launch CompizConfig Settings Manager from Dash, click the Unity plugin and on the "Behaviour" tab, under "Hide Launcher", select "Dodge windows" or "Dodge active window".

Revert to the original Unity packages

If you want to revert the changes and go back to the original Unity packages from the Ubuntu repositories, use the following commands:

sudo apt-get install ppa-purge
sudo ppa-purge ppa:ikarosdev/unity-revamped

Thanks to Isaac Joseph for his work on the Unity Revamped PPA!